NCAA Tournament Scores 2012: Breakdown of Thursday's Day 1 Results

The first day of the NCAA tournament was all chalk. And by that I mean that 14 of 16 higher-seeded teams won their respective games.

The two upsets, well, you probably had one of them in your office pool. The 12th-seeded VCU Rams knocked off the fifth-seeded Wichita State Shockers, but 11th-seeded Colorado knocking off sixth-seeded UNLV was a bit of surprise.

Other than that, the biggest intrigue of the day came from a No. 16-seeded UNC-Asheville team nearly knocking off the No. 1-seeded Syracuse Orange. Ask around the office today, and there are sure to be a few co-workers ranting and raving about the refs giving the game to 'Cuse.

Lets take a quick look at the all results from the first 16 games and what it means.

South Region

(1) Kentucky 81, (16) Western Kentucky 66

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Kentucky didn't put it all together early in the game, but they found fire from their stars Anthony Davis and Terrence Morris when they needed it most.

(8) Iowa State 77, (9) UConn 64

The Cyclones dominated the Huskies out of the gate and never looked back. They'll be a feisty bunch for the Wildcats to handle next round.

(5) Wichita State 59, (12) VCU 62

There wasn't much of a shock here for the Shockers and Rams. VCU pressured the heck out of Wichita State and broke their spirit early. Their late run was too little too late, and once again, the Rams are a dangerous team in the next round.

(4) Indiana 79, (13) New Mexico State 66

The Hoosiers did their thing, but will need to be ready when VCU comes calling on Saturday.

(6) UNLV 64, (11) Colorado 68

It was too little, too late for UNLV after the Buffaloes got out to a 20-point lead in the second half and held off the Rebels' furious rally late. Colorado will get rival Baylor next.

(3) Baylor 68, (14) South Dakota State 60

As per usual, the Bears looked great at times and fell off at times. They'll need to play great in the game against the Buffs on Saturday, or they could fall in much the same way as the Rebels before.

West Region

(5) New Mexico 75, (12) Long Beach State 68

Sentiment was on the side of the 49ers, but the Beach simply didn't have enough in the end for the Lobos, who hit their free throws down the stretch and landed a date with Louisville on Saturday.

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(4) Louisville 69, (13) Davidson (62)

If the Cardinals can stay out of foul trouble and play defense the way they did on Davidson, they'll compete with just about anybody. Horrible outing from the Wildcats shooters.

(6) Murray State 58, (11) Colorado State 41

It didn't start out pretty, but the Racers put went into lockdown mode and strangled the Rams in the second half. They'll have their hands full with the Golden Eagles of Marquette.

(3) Marquette 88, (14) BYU 68

The Big East power absolutely dominated the Cougars, and they are as dangerous a team as any in this tournament.

East Region

(1) Syracuse 72, (16) UNC-Ashville 65

The 'Cuse are lucky—end of story. Wouldn't be shocking if they bow out in one of the next two rounds.

(8) Kansas State 70, (9) Southern Miss 64

This was a back-and-forth game with timely play by the Wildcats. They'll be a handful for the Orange.